Telia becomes a key supplier for Europe's research network GÉANT
Press Release
Telia International Carrier has been appointed one of the main suppliers for the build-up of the new GÉANT network. Telia International Carrier has, in competition with 15 other major players, won the contract to provide a significant part of the pan-European research network GÉANT with international capacity through a long-term agreement with the co-ordinating partner of the project, DANTE.
5 July 2001 - GÉANT is a four-year, 220-million Euro project co-funded by the European Commision set up by a Consortium of 27 European national research and education networks (NRENs), with DANTE as its co-ordinating partner. Reaching over 3,000 research and education institutions in over 30 countries, GÉANT will provide the highest capacity and will offer the greatest geographic coverage of any network of its kind in the world. It will be fully operational in November 2001.
"DANTE's demands on the GÉANT suppliers are technically immense and the GÉANT network is one of the most sophisticated IP backbones to be built in Europe", says Olof Joos, Key Account Manager at Telia International Carrier.
Telia International Carrier is to provide network capacity with speeds ranging from 34 Megabits/sec to 10 Gigabits/sec. The deal makes Telia International Carrier one of the main suppliers of capacity to GÉANT.
"Telia International Carrier lives up to our highest standards and has what it takes to implement the network. We are very satisfied with their proven technical as well as financial skills and we look forward to working with them", says Dai Davies, General Manager of DANTE.
"That DANTE and the NREN Consortium chose Telia International Carrier as a supplier shows that we can meet their high demands. DANTE and the NREN Consortium are an important client to us and we are proud to get this prestigeous assignment in today's tough competition", says Lars Rydin, CEO of Telia International Carrier.
About Telia International Carrier:
Telia's wholly owned subsidiary, Telia International Carrier, provides IP, Capacity, Voice, Infrastructure services and carrier neutral colocation solutions. Today, the company is the leading European carrier of transatlantic IP traffic to the USA.
Its wholly owned multi-fibre optic network - the Viking Network - provides high capacity bandwidth and offers end-to-end connectivity round the world. The network is a giant investment-intensive venture designed to expand Telia International Carrier to cover Scandinavia, Europe and the USA by 2001. The infrastructure in Europe is designed as a multi-duct network connecting all significant cities with communication, supporting IP, Voice and Data. By the end of 2001, the network will cover 40,000 route kilometres throughout Europe and the USA, connecting 50 major cities.
Telia is the leading Scandinavian Internet & Communication company. Operating from its position as the largest player in the expanding North European market, the firm has established a strong global presence with representation all over the world. The turnover of the company in 2000 was SEK54,064 million. Telia employs 29,900 people.
Visit Telia at www.telia.com.
About the NREN Consortium:
The NREN Consortium consists of 27 European national and regional research and education networks who have committed to taking part in GÉANT for the duration of the project, with DANTE as a co-ordinating partner.
These NRENs provide network services to research organisations, universities and other education institutions in a total of 31 countries across Europe.
About DANTE:
Since its creation in 1993, DANTE has been responsible for four consecutive generations of European research networks, and is active in the ongoing development of European research networking.
DANTE is owned by a number of European research networks and has "Research Association" status in the UK. It plans, builds and manages international networking services on their behalf. The pan-European research network enables European scientists to compete on an international stage by providing them with a world-class backbone that offers the bandwidth and the Quality of Service required for research and development activities at this level. It represents the basis for the introduction of 'virtual laboratories' and 'virtual institutes' in Europe.
DANTE has developed a range of interconnectivity agreements with other national research networks, such as ESnet, Abilene and the Internet2 project in the United States, CANARIE in Canada and NII in Japan.
More information on DANTE and on GÉANT can be found on the DANTE web site at http://www.dante.net
For more information, please contact:
Telia International Carrier
Mark Vadasz
Public Relations Manager
Tel: +46 8 713 58 30
DANTE
Marine Chartois
External Relations Manager
press@dante.org.uk
Tel: +44 1223 302 992
Fax: +44 1223 303 005
